Could you do it?
by Lolly4Holly
Summary: A tough shift at the lab gets everyone thinking about murder. Under the right circumstances, anyone can be driven to murder, but who did it? Nick/Greg minor slash. Implied M-preg COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1: The Case

**Could you do it?**

One-Shot / Mini-series

**Author:** Lolly4Holly

**Rated:** **(T)**

**Pairings:** Nick/Greg minor slash

**Summary:** A tough shift at the lab gets everyone thinking about murder. Under the right circumstances, anyone can be driven to murder, but who did it?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI or any of its characters.

**Warnings:** Adult content. **M/M** slash relationship. Implied **M-Preg!** Crime scene gore.

**Authors Note:** Based around season 6, no specific episode but it's around the time of Nick's moustache :D I was watching some repeat episodes from the beginning of season 6, and suddenly thought of this little fic. This is **NOT** the sequel to **Baby Makes Three**. I hope you enjoy it!

**Thanks so much for reading. Please Review!**

* * *

**Chapter One: The Case**

Leaning against the wall of the busy hospital wing in Desert Palms Hospital, Greg let out a wide yawn of exhaustion after the double shift he just pulled, that _still_ wasn't over. The last suspect they had left to interrogate was killed in police custody, which didn't look good since their suspect was accused of killing a police officer. Greg was currently waiting at the hospital to talk to the deceased officer's partner who saw the whole thing and took two bullets himself.

The officers in the hallway didn't like Greg's presence there as he now had to investigate who killed their suspect, and they all looked guilty as the motive was honouring a fallen officer.

Glancing up as Grissom entered the hall with Officer Bartlett's pregnant wife in toe, Greg stood up straight, giving them both a curious look. Grissom offered his condolences to Officer Bartlett's wife Linda then watched her leave before he turned towards Greg.

"Officer Bartlett died, Greg. He had unforeseen internal bleeding. I'm gonna send you back out to the holding cell with Warrick and Sara. I've still got Nick at the crime scene where the first Officer was killed."

"Are we gonna retrieve the bullets from his body?" Greg hesitated to ask.

"Yeah, I'll get Doc Robbins to pull them." Grissom nodded as he pulled his ringing cell from his pocket. "Oh, and Bobby said the bullet from our supposed cop killer's body doesn't match any of the officers guns." He reported before he put his phone to his ear, taking a few steps away from Greg to answer it. "Grissom . . . hey Catherine, whatcha got for me?"

Turning for the other end of the hall, Greg looked around at all the officers giving him an evil eye as he made his way off towards the exit. He felt an eerie chill tingling its way down his spine as they were all looking at him as though he was the enemy, when really, he was just doing his job.

As Greg reached the outside doors, his cell started to ring on his hip. "Hey moustache boy." Greg immediately answered then snickered to himself as he heard the Texan giving out a groan from the other end as people had been constantly calling him that since he decided to grow a moustache.

"_What is the deal with me growin' a moustache? You're the one who said you liked facial hair on a man."_

"Yeah, facial hair Nicky. Not a porn 'stache." He laughed as he made his way through the parking lot towards his car. "What did you want anyway?"

"_You're still at the hospital, right?"_

"Just leaving." Greg nodded as he fumbled with his keys in his pocket. "Whatcha looking for?"

"_Did you talk to Bartlett yet?"_ He asked, leaving no room for an answer as he started to explain, "_I just listened to the call that Officers Bartlett and Lloyd made to dispatch. Officer Bartlett said on the radio that there were probably _multiple _suspects, but we only collected cartridge casings from the one gun, and as far as we can tell, there was no one else in the room. I was wonderin' if you could..."_

"He's dead Nicky." Greg interrupted him. "He died before I could talk to him. Grissom's going back with the body to the lab to retrieve the bullets as we speak."

"_Oh."_ Nick scratched at the hair growing on his upper lip as he looked past the bright yellow crime tape towards his crime scene. "_Well, are you okay hun?"_

"Yeah, I didn't really know him, but he's got a severely pregnant wife." Dropping into the driver's seat of his car, Greg looked off towards the police car in the distance that had the sheriff in the passenger seat. "I have to go back out to Warrick and Sara's crime scene at the station. Apparently Doc Robbins pulled the bullets from our dead cop killer, the bullets weren't a match to any of the officers guns though."

"_So we just lost our suspects."_ Nick groaned as he climbed into the driver's seat of his own vehicle. "_At least we know we're not lookin' for a cop out for vengeance."_

"Unless they used a different gun because they knew it could be traced." Greg pointed out to him then looked at his watch to see the time. "Looks like we're gonna be working a triple though, so I'll call you later."

"_K babe, be safe."_

"Always am." Greg replied then snapped his phone shut before he started up the engine of his car, dialling Sara's number on the way toward the exit to find out where they were at now.

* * *

A few hours later Grissom called everyone back to the lab for a meeting in the conference room so they could figure out where they had got so far.

Catherine was the last to arrive as she had been working with Internal Affairs Officer Carl Wilson all day, interviewing the suspected officers involved. "Okay." Grissom cleared his throat as they all took their seats. "Where are we at right now? Nick, what'd you get from your crime scene?"

"The blood at the crime scene was mostly Officer Lloyd's; the rest of it was Officer Bartlett's. The only cartridge casings that I found on the crime scene belonged to the suspect's gun, Loui Charlton." The Texan reported as he handed the photos of the evidence round for everyone to look at. "Officer Lloyd was hit three times. One bullet entered his vest, it only caused minor bruisin'. The other two shots were the kill shots; they caused him to bleed out quite quickly. Officer Lloyd was dead when the paramedics got there."

"What about the boot prints?" Grissom inquired.

"The bloody set leadin' away from where Officer Bartlett was shot, I managed to positively match to the paramedics boots. None of the suspects were on scene; he didn't step in any of the blood after he gunned down both officers. He just left." Nick scratched his moustache as he handed the photo evidence of the boots over to Grissom to take a look at. "Loui's hands tested positive for GSR. The gun was registered to him, and bullets from both officers were positively matched to his gun. He's definitely our guy." He concluded.

"Okay." Chewing the end of his glasses frames, Grissom looked over the evidence in his hands to confirm it was correct before he turned his head towards Warrick. "And what did you get from your crime scene?"

"When Loui was brought into custody earlier, his hands were tested for GSR." Warrick started to explain, "His DNA was taken and Sara took his fingerprints. Loui was then transferred to a holding cell by Mitch. The time stamp on the security lock was 10:01 pm. Twenty minutes later he was moved to one of the interrogation rooms to talk with his lawyer. There were no security cameras on for client counsellor privileges, but Officer Mitch was guarding the door the whole time." He assured him.

"Right, then Mitch pat him down to make sure he wasn't carrying anything and took him back to his holding cell at 10:38 pm." Sara reported, showing them the still footage from the video feed. "Then Nick and Brass interrogated him on the murder of Officer Lloyd while the DA was issuing a warrant to search his house."

"We found the gun used to kill both officers in the bedside draw of his apartment." Warrick held up the photo. "Bobby D test fired the gun in his lab. The bullets from his gun were a positive match to the bullets from both officers."

"What time was Loui found dead?" Grissom queried.

Sara opened up the report in front of her, reading off the event times she had recorded, "Well at 11:16 pm day shift CSI, Veronica Stone came down to the holding cell next to Loui's. She was going to collect a blood sample from her suspect related to a B&A. That's when Veronica saw Loui dead on his cell floor, and immediately reported it."

Reaching for the coroner's report, Warrick refreshed his mind of what Doc Robbins had told them down in autopsy before he showed the report round to the rest of the team. "Loui was shot in the third eye, close range. The bars tested positive for GSR. Splatter against the back wall is at his height, so he was standing when he was shot, probably facing his shooter..."

"Right, but none of the officer's weapons killed him." Sara interrupted before he took all the glory for their investigating. "The security camera didn't pick up anyone going in through the main door where it was directed. All the officers were accounted for in the station. And nobody heard or saw anything." She groaned as they were still at a dead end.

"Okay, so we've closed the Lloyd and Bartlett case. Now we just have to find out who shot Loui." Grissom scratched at his stubbled beard as he looked across the table at all of the evidence laid out in front of him. "Well, who has a motive?" He asked them all.

"Everyone?" Greg immediately answered.

"He's got a point." Warrick nodded in agreement. "We all know how much the guys round here hate cop killers. Anyone of them could be a suspect."

"How?" Sara asked as she leant on her elbow. "We checked everyone's weapon. It's not possible for a civilian to get past security either. I agree that it's an inside job, but we're talking about cops here."

"Yeah, but we only checked their standard sidearm's." Warrick pointed out to her. "A lot of these cops carry backups that aren't standard issue."

"Check everyone's again." Grissom ordered as he put his glasses back on. "Greg, I want you to go back to the hospital and collect Officer Bartlett's personal things. See if he talked to any of his doctors or the paramedics who picked him up. Nick, you help Sara and Warrick. Catherine, you're with me." Climbing to his feet, Grissom signalled for Catherine to follow him out of the room off towards his office.

Warrick and Sara collected up their things next, slowly exiting the room as they discussed the officers, who they knew carried back up weapons, figuring out where they could start with the whole inside job theory.

Nick watched them leave then stepped around the table towards where Greg was still sat checking the messages on his phone. Cupping Greg's chin in his hand, Nick gently turned his head to press a kiss to his lips. "You know, that is the quietest you've ever been in a meetin', G." He pointed out to him.

"I'm just tired." Greg assured him as he knew how much he always worried about him. "You _are_ gonna shave that thing before your birthday right?" Greg teased him as he climbed to his feet. "I completely take back my statement of liking men with facial hair; you know what I would like though?"

"No, what?" Nick queried as he straightened up, fearing what Greg was going to make him do this time.

Keeping Nick in suspense a moment to torment him, Greg smiled before he finally decided to answer, "A whole weekend off."

"Oh." Nick sighed in relief then nodded in agreement. "Yeah, yeah me too. After shift I'll talk to Grissom. I'm sure we've got a couple of days saved up. Especially after all the triple shifts we've been working." Nick smirked then brushed aside his growing fringe from his forehead before he pressed a kiss to Greg's cheek. "I'll see you later."

"Love you." Greg called after him as he head towards the door.

"Love you too." Nick replied then head off down the hall, getting back to the case so he could finally go home and get some sleep.

Greg watched him walking away then looked at the cell phone in his hands as it started to ring. "Hello?" He answered.

"_Sweetie, it's mom._" His mother Jean Sanders replied. "_When are you coming home? You've been there for hours, don't they..."_

Greg rolled his eyes as she once again began the talk of how he was so overworked and severely underpaid. "Mom, if you keep calling me every twenty minutes or so, I'm never gonna be finished here, which means I'll be here _even_ longer." Greg pointed out to her in an annoyed tone. "Now, did you want anything specific this time or did you just call to moan at me, again?" He complained.

"_No, I didn't call to moan."_ She protested. "_There's somebody here that wants to talk to you."_ Jean handed the phone over to the sticky fingered little girl sat at the breakfast counter, giving her a wide smile before she head off towards the fridge to fix them some lunch.

"_Daddy, when are you coming home?"_

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed this small mini-series I just thought of. Each chapter will be around 2,000 words each. It was orignally going to be a one-shot idea, but it was too long for that :D And don't worry, I'll update my other stories once I get some more ideas, but this should keep you entertained for the time being!**

**Thanks so much for reading. Please remember to review!**

**~ Holly**


	2. Chapter 2: Assault

**Chapter Two: Assault**

Making his way out of the DNA lab, Nick looked around for the rest of the team then head off towards the break room where Sara and Warrick were sat going over evidence. "Hey, I found blood on the cell door where Loui was bein' held." He announced as he opened up the report from DNA that he was still holding in his hands.

"I already did them." Warrick pointed out to him.

"Yeah, I know." The Texan nodded, feeling bad for stepping on his toes. "But since we were goin' over evidence again, I thought I'd take a look at the bars of the cell again, with fresh eyes. And it was lucky I did because I found blood on one of the bars. Not that I'm blamin' you for missin' it, we're all overworked and exhausted on this case. But I did find some blood."

"Really?" Sara glanced towards Warrick as he had missed that when he went over them the first time.

"Yeah, Wendy identified it as XX. Female DNA. Not in any of our databases, but there's also a fresh graze on the metal bars as if it was blow back from firin' a gun between them."

"Ah, so not only does our murderer probably have a scratched gun, but they're also gonna have a bloody knuckle." Sara nodded to him, giving him a wink for a job well done. "That certainly narrows down our search from... everyone wielding a gun in the state." She smirked.

"Right! Now it's just everyone in the state wielding a gun that's female." Warrick remarked then turned his head towards Nick as the Texan was giving them a cocky smile because he had found more answers then them. "You think you're gonna break this case wide open before us moustache boy?"

"Yeah. I'm feelin' lucky." He grinned.

"How much you wonna wager?"

"Ugh! Guys." Sara muttered, loudly scraping back her chair as she exited the room to let them get on with their childish games.

* * *

Collecting up Officer Bartlett's personal effects that consisted of his watch, keys and wallet full of photos of his three kids, Greg gave out a heavy sigh as the three kids now had no father, and the forth one on the way would never get the chance to know him either.

"That's everything." The doctor who treated him handed over the deceased officer's bloody clothes and shield to the CSI in his room.

"Thanks, did he talk to you at all?" Greg queried.

The doctor shook his head slightly as he didn't remember him talking. "The paramedics said he was unresponsive in the ambulance. As soon as we brought him in we took him straight through to emergency surgery. He was losing blood fast, so that was our priority."

"Okay, thanks." Greg stuffed the clothes into an evidence bag then lifted everything into his hands ready to take back to the lab when he spotted Officer Bartlett's pregnant wife stood outside the room talking to Officer O'Bryan.

From the looks of it, she seemed to be angry with him about something, but Greg couldn't tell what from his position in the doorway. As she raised her arm to run a hand through her dishevelled honey brown hair though, Greg noticed a red smear on the sleeve of the sweatshirt she was wearing, deciding to investigate for himself.

Placing the items in his hands back on the bed, Greg slowly made his way off out into the hall, pulling his flashlight from his CSI vest to take a closer look at her sleeve. "What are you doing?" Mrs Bartlett snapped as she moved back from him.

"There's some blood on your sleeve." Greg pointed it out to her. "Do you know how you got that there, Mrs Bartlett?"

"I don't know, when I went to see my husband?" She shrugged then frowned angrily at him as she folded her arms across her chest. "You're supposed to be finding the man who murdered him, not harassing me!"

"Ma'am, with all due respect, you didn't touch your husband's body while he was in the hospital, and the blood would have been dry at the coroner's office, so it wouldn't smear like that." Greg pointed out to her as he pulled his camera from his pocket to snap a picture of it.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing?" She asked in annoyance as she shielded her eyes from the flash.

"Ma'am, I'm gonna need a sample of that blood." Greg looked towards Officer O'Bryan beside her.

Officer Keith O'Bryan took a step back from the two of them, giving the woman he had known since his best friend's wedding day twelve years ago a curious look as he tried to look for the blood smear himself.

"I can get a warrant." Greg suggested as the officer didn't look as though he was about to help him out, but he wasn't surprised as he knew Officer O'Bryan by reputation. He was a homophobe and ever since he found out about the two CSI's shacking up together, he had been especially homophobic towards them.

"Why don't you just go and do your job somewhere else instead of hassling me?" Mrs Bartlett gave Greg a forceful push back in annoyance, while Officer O'Bryan just stood there and did nothing, still. "Thanks to that bastard, my children don't have a father!" Placing her hand on her stomach, Mrs Bartlett started to softly sob into one hand. "You won't even let me bury him, now you're hassling me about a smear?"

"We've already found the guy that killed your husband." Greg pointed out to her then tried to reason with her, "And we'll be able to release the body of your husband much quicker if you just cooperate with us."

"Cooperate with this." Aggressively grabbing the camera from Greg's hand, Mrs Bartlett yanked it from Greg's grip and tossed it to the floor. As she did, Greg noticed that she also had a graze on the back of her hand.

Mrs Bartlett then stormed away down the hall, leaving Greg with his smashed camera and Officer O'Bryan who just stood and did nothing again.

"Sanders, her husband just died." O'Bryan pointed out to him as the younger man looked at the ruins of his camera.

"Fine, I'll get a warrant." Greg knew full well that she was probably going to get rid of the sweatshirt or try to clean it off somehow, but right now, there was nothing he could do. "And I thought the protect and serve rule applied to everyone." He remarked before he knelt down to retrieve the memory card from the remains of his camera.

* * *

Barging into the night shift supervisors office, Ecklie fumed, "What is it with _your_ people and respect, Gil? First of all Sara goes off the deep end with Catherine, now your CSI's are assaulting pregnant women in broad daylight who just lost their husbands?"

Grissom blinked his eyes a few times in confusion then removed the glasses from his face, giving Ecklie a perplexed look. "Conrad, what are you talking about?"

"Sanders!" He barked. "I approved him for the field because you said he was good at his job. But you never told me that he had a thing for assaulting grieving pregnant women in front of everyone. Especially cops. What the hell's wrong with him?"

"Huh, Greg? Greg did what?" Grissom furrowed his brows as it was very hard to believe that someone like Greg would assault anyone. "Start from the beginning."

"What am I speaking in tongues? He – assaulted – and – upset – Linda – Bartlett." Ecklie spoke slower so Grissom could understand him this time. "I wonna see him in my office, the **second** that he gets back from the field!" He demanded then stormed off out of the office with his hands on his hips.

Frowning even more, the grave yard shift supervisor put his glasses back on then climbed to his feet. Grissom then head off through the halls, searching for Greg, but instead he found Nick sat in one of the layout rooms alone. "Nicky, where's Greg?" He asked, poking his head through the door.

"Eh... you sent him to the hospital." Nick reminded him. "I haven't seen him since he left, why?"

"Have him come see me as soon as he gets in." He instructed.

Nick raised his eyebrows as he watched his supervisor heading back down the hall then reached for his cell to find out where Greg was.

"_Yeah?"_ Greg answered after three rings.

"Hey hun, whatcha doin'?"

"_Driving back to the lab."_ Greg snickered softly. "_You keeping tabs on me now? I've already got my mother checking on me every twenty minutes; I don't need it from you too, Nicky."_ The younger man smirked.

"I wasn't keepin' tabs." Nick defended himself. "I just... nothin', never mind. Grissom's lookin' for you by the way. He wants you to go see him as soon as you get in. Sounds serious." He explained to him then rested on his elbow on the table. "Hey, how'd it go at the hospital?"

"_Fine."_ He groaned. "_I never realised how defensive pregnant women are. If I ever give you trouble again, just slap me. I give you my permission."_

"Hey, you said we're stoppin' at _four_, and we have _five_. I think we have enough." The older man pointed out to him with a laugh. "And I thought you said you're never goin' through it again. I seem to recall _somebody_ screamin' that in my ear. Or maybe it was somethin' more along the lines of 'I hate you for doin' this to me Nicky!" He mocked him.

"_I don't hate you."_ Greg quickly assured him. "_I love you, that's why I'm married to you and want to spend the rest of my life with you, Tex. And I love babies, just not the birth part. The pregnancy part is cool, for the first few months anyway. Maybe the next time I get pregnant, you can just take over from eight months on?"_ Greg cheekily suggested as he turned his car off towards the CSI lab parking lot.

"You know I'd love to baby, but it's not physically possible." Nick pointed out to him.

"_Okay."_ Greg chuckled to himself. "_Hey, I'll see you in a minute; I'm just pulling in now."_

"Okay, see yah." Nick snapped his phone shut then looked up towards the door as Catherine knocked on the glass. He nodded to her to let her in then gave her a curious look, "Hey, whatsup Catherine?"

"Just wanted to know if you found out who our female shooter is yet?"

"Nope, not yet." He shook his head. "None of our female officers, female staff, visitors or anyone in the whole buildin' matches the DNA profile. Wendy's only just got finished on the last few samples and she's on her first break in seven hours." Nick pointed out to her as he turned his wrist to check the time on his watch. "Damn, it's Saturday already?"

"Yep, I better call my mom; tell her we're still not done yet." She groaned as she pulled her cell from her pocket. "Call me as soon as you get something, Nicky."

"Will do." He assured her.

"_CSI Nick Stokes, you have a visitor in reception. CSI Nick Stokes, you have a visitor."_ The intercom suddenly sounded from Judith at the reception desk.

Nick climbed to his feet, wondering who would come to see him as he stepped past Catherine and head off towards the reception area where he immediately saw his mother in law stood at the front desk. "Jean? What's wrong?" He immediately panicked, fearing the worst as she had never visited him at the lab before.

"Nothing's wrong." Mrs Sanders quickly explained. "The kids are fine, everything's fine." She assured him as she saw the fearful look in his eyes. "I just came to tell you that I'm going to drop the kids off at your sisters in the morning. Daniel's going back to work and I've got lots of errands to run. I already called your sister Mackayla, and she said it was okay. I just didn't want you to panic in case you got to our house and didn't find the kids there in the morning." She smiled softly to him.

"Oh okay." He let out a sigh of relief. "Where are they now then?" He queried.

"Home, sleeping. As all children should be at two am." Jean smirked then turned towards the elevator to leave, just as her son stepped out with a surprised expression on his face.

"I miss one call and you drive straight over here to moan at me about it?" He naturally assumed that she was here to give him a hard time about ducking one of his calls while he was at the hospital.

"I was here to see Nicky _actually._" She defended herself, giving her son a playful tap on the cheek. "You're not always the most important thing in the world you know honey." She teased him. "I'll see you later sweetheart, when you _finally_ get off shift that is." Greg rolled his eyes at his mother then pushed the elevator button for her to get her out of the building as quick as possible before she started embarrassing him in some way.

"Sanders!" Ecklie's voice suddenly echoed down the hall as the old man charged towards him, completely ignoring the other people around him. "My office. Now, Sanders!"

* * *

**Thank you for your review's, favouriting and subscribing to this story. No it's not the sequel to 'Baby Makes Three' That's still to come, this is just a short mini series that I thought up. All questions about the children and the case will be answered along the way, so allow yourself to be surprised instead of demanding answers before the story can explain it to you :D**

**Thanks so much for reading, please review!**

**~ Holly**


	3. Chapter 3: Mom to the Rescue

**Chapter Three: Mom to the Rescue**

Forcefully opening the door to his office, Ecklie pointed to the empty chair for Greg to sit in then closed the door on the prying eyes of CSI's Nick Stokes, Sara Sidle and Greg's mother Jean Sanders so they had some privacy while he was disciplining him. Ecklie then marched around his desk and took a seat in his leather chair that Hodges had bought him as an ass kissing gift his previous birthday. "What the hell were you thinking, Sanders?" Ecklie immediately barked at him.

"About what?" Greg cocked an eyebrow up in confusion.

"The hospital with Mrs Bartlett, that's what." He snapped. "You are a law enforcement officer and a representative of this city, not to mention this lab. You can't just go around assaulting pregnant women..."

"Whoa, she smashed my camera." Greg objected. "All I did was take a photo of the blood on her sleeve and ask to see it as it might be case related."

"That's not what she told me." Ecklie glanced towards the door, scowling at the prying eyes stood at his office door. "She told me that you assaulted her."

"That's ridiculous." Greg frowned at him. "I didn't touch her. Ask Officer O'Bryan, he was there."

"What are you in the school yard now?"

"Look." Greg raised his hand to show him the fingernail scratch marks. "She scratched me when she snatched my camera and smashed it. I didn't touch her."

Ecklie looked up as his office door flew open and Greg's mother burst inside. "Who scratched you?" She demanded to know.

"Excuse me, who the hell are you and what are you doing barging into my office, and my lab as a matter of fact?" Ecklie demanded right back at her as he climbed to his feet.

"Don't you dare raise your voice to me! I'm his mother." Jean warned him, not noticing her son rolling his eyes and dropping his head into his hands. "You can't speak to my son like that. And don't you even dare think about rolling those eyes mister!"

"You brought your mother to the lab?" Ecklie scowled at the young CSI, struggling not to laugh as he felt like he was Principal and Greg was the naughty student. "You're a law enforcement officer and you still need your mother around to protect you?"

"Don't take the micky!" Jean hissed. "Maybe if your mother had done a better job at teaching you manners..."

"Mom!" Greg cut her off, giving out a heavy sigh of annoyance then turned his attention back towards Ecklie. "No I didn't bring her here; she's just... super protective." Climbing to his feet, Greg looked towards his mother with a look of frustration. "Remember that talk we had about not embarrassing me at work, well that conversation we had would apply to this situation right now."

"Why's he accusing you of assault if this woman scratched you and broke your camera then?" Folding her arms across her chest, Jean Sanders turned her angry frown towards Ecklie, waiting for him to speak.

"I am a supervisor of this lab, and I need to talk to my staff. In private." Ecklie directed the woman off towards the door. Jean looked towards her son then reluctantly made her way back towards the door, closing it behind her. "Sanders, I'll talk to Officer O'Bryan, but you're off the case!" He barked.

"That's totally unfair." He whined, freaking himself out as his children used that one on him all the time. "I didn't _do_ anything wrong. She shoved me then broke my camera, and I get punished for it?" He asked, placing his hand on his chest.

"Yes, and you're also on suspended leave, _without_ pay!" Walking back behind his desk, Ecklie dropped into his seat, directing a smug smile towards the younger man. "You wonna tell your mommy on me now, Sanders?"

Greg just directed an angry frown at him then turned towards the door to leave. As he reached out for the handle, Greg turned his head back towards Ecklie, giving him a curious look. "If the blood on Mrs Bartlett's sleeve turns out to be Loui Charlton's, do I get to come back to work with an apology?" He asked as he tilted his head to the side in Ecklie's direction.

"No." Weaving his hands together on the desk, Ecklie smiled in Greg's direction. "But that apology is a good idea. When you get back, you're apologising to Mrs Bartlett and her family for the pain you've caused them."

"No he's not." Grissom suddenly appeared in the door behind Greg, holding up a tape in his hands. "There's security cameras overlooking the nurses' station at the hospital. You can see for yourself the assault on CSI Greg Sanders and his camera." The supervisor smugly grinned towards Ecklie. "I believe Greg will be the one getting the apology, Conrad."

"He's still suspended." Ecklie climbed to his feet and grabbed the tape from Grissom's hands. "I'll review the tape myself before I take disciplinary action on you though Sanders."

Greg rolled his eyes then turned for the doorway, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he head off towards the locker room to grab his coat and go home to finally get some sleep. As Greg reached the locker room though, he saw Nick, Sara and his mother all stood inside, waiting for him to return.

"Hey, what happened?" Nick immediately asked, jumping up from his position on the bench.

"I'm suspended." Stepping up to his locker, Greg spun the locker combination into the lock then pulled it open, reaching inside for his jacket. "One week, without pay."

"But you didn't do anything." Jean complained. "What kinda hack job are they running here?"

"Mom, leave it alone." Greg rolled his eyes at her then pulled his jacket on. "I'm going home. Oh." He suddenly remembered as he reached into his jeans pocket for the memory card from his camera. "Mrs Bartlett had a blood smear on her sweatshirt sleeve. She also had a graze on her knuckle. I was gonna get a warrant for the sweatshirt, but she's probably destroyed it by now." He remarked as he handed the memory card over to Nick. "Oh, and Officer Bartlett's things are still in the back of my Denali too."

"Graze on her knuckle?" Sara queried as she looked towards Nick. "Think she's our shooter?"

"Her husband did have a registered 22." Nick nodded then smiled towards Greg. "I think you just broke the case, G."

"They should be bloody promoting you, not putting you on suspended leave!" Jean shouted in anger from the doorway. Greg rolled his eyes at her again then handed his Denali keys over to Sara before he head off towards the door.

"Bye... Greg." Sara watched him go then turned towards Nick. "We should get a move on before she has time to destroy the evidence. We can get a warrant for her DNA. If it matches the blood you found between the bars of the cell..."

"Then we've got our murderer." Nick concluded then turned towards the door, looking at the expression on his mother in laws face. "What?" He asked as she continued to stare at him.

"Nothing, I've just never seen you at work." She grinned widely. "It really is just like that crime show Daniel's always watching on TV."

Sara struggled not to burst out laughing then turned towards Nick, "Yeah, I'll eh... I'll meet you down there Nick."

"Okay." Nick took a step back as Sara walked by him then smiled in his mother in laws direction. "Well, I have to get back to work now Jean."

"Of course." Taking a step back, Jean beamed a wide smile at her son in law as he stepped by her. "Good luck Sweetheart!" She shouted after him.

Nick smiled over his shoulder at her then gave out a soft sigh once he was far away enough from her, realising just how much of a handful Greg's mother really was.

* * *

Slowly creeping up the stairs of his parent's house, Greg quietly tip toed off down the hall towards the oldest twin's slightly ajar bedroom door. Peering in through the gap, Greg smiled to himself as both twins were fast asleep.

Caleb was lying on his stomach across the middle of his bed, snoozing softly. His dark brown hair was a dishevelled mess and his Spiderman pyjamas were all crumpled from his constant fidgeting. Jacob however was lying on his back in the middle of his bed. His hair was still as neat as when he brushed it in the morning and his Batman pyjamas still looked freshly ironed.

The five year old twins were completely identical, but they had completely different personalities, just like their fathers.

Greg quietly clicked the door shut behind him then head further down the hall towards the next bedroom where the younger set of twins were also still fast asleep. Three year old Ethan was curled up at one end of his bed, his head barely visible under the mountain of covers on top of him and his twin sister Aidan was laying on her side in her bed, clutching her favourite stuffed animal Moggy tightly in her little arms.

Greg crept into the room towards her bed, lifting the covers only covering her legs to cover the rest of her body. Greg affectionately brushed his fingers through her long brown hair then touched a kiss to his sleeping angel's forehead.

After tucking his children in, Greg quietly crept back out the room and head off towards his bedroom that Jean had specially set up for them whenever they stayed over. In the middle of the room was a large double bed, complete with bedside tables and a chest of draws each. At the far side of the room stood the baby's crib with the mobile of fish hanging above it.

Taking a step closer towards the crib, Greg smiled as he saw his littlest angel Avery was still wide awake. She beamed her wide chocolate brown eyes up at him as she gave out soft baby grunts of joy. She had kicked her blanket to the end of the cot, and she was kicking her arms and legs about every so often as she sucked on the dummy in her mouth.

"Hey baby girl." He whispered to her then carefully lifted her from the crib, holding her against his chest. "Did you miss me?" Touching his lips to her forehead, Greg gently brushed back her short strands of dark hair that were just covering her head, finding it hard to believe that it was only seven months ago that she was still growing inside of him.

Greg kicked his sneakers off then carefully climbed onto his bed and set the pillows up against the head board for him to lean against while he held baby Avery in his arms.

* * *

"Hey Sara. Hey." Nick greeted Warrick and Sara as he entered the break room. Sara just waved as she was eating her sandwich, making Nick smile at her as it was the first thing she had eaten all day.

"Hey." Warrick responded to him, grabbing an extra coffee mug for Nick as he was already pouring one for himself, Sara and Catherine. "Hey, what'd you get from the house?"

"The gun, which Bobby is test firin' now. Hopefully we can match the bullet found in Loui Charlton to her gun. Oh, and the sweatshirt, but it's been washed." The Texan reported. "Doubt we'll get anythin' from it, especially not the gunshot residue."

Warrick rolled his eyes. "I can't believe Ecklie really thought that Greg would assault someone."

"I can't believe his mother would talk to Ecklie like that." Sara snickered. "Talk about embarrassing."

"You really don't know Greg's mother then." The Texan smirked as he took a seat at the table with her. "The important thing is that Greg may have just broken the case. The DA's issuin' a warrant for Mrs Bartlett's DNA, and Brass is bringin' her into custody."

"The cops are gonna hate us even more now that we're suspecting a deceased officers wife of the crime." Sara pointed out to him as she reached for her second sandwich then licked her sticky fingertips before she spoke again. "I can't believe she would do that. She's a mother, a pregnant one too."

"Right circumstances, I'd do the same." Warrick announced as he set the coffees down on the table. "If it was one of you guys that got killed, I'd probably do the same to the murderer, regardless of the consequences."

"I wouldn't." Sara shook her head. "Otherwise we'd be just as bad as everyone we've ever locked up. Killing someone won't make it better; it's just more bloodshed. We've proved that time and time again with every case we've ever worked."

Warrick gave her a half nod then reached into his brown paper bag for his sandwich his wife had prepared. "Oh man!" He immediately complained as he saw what was inside his sandwich. "She forgot the jelly again. What's the point in asking me what I want then she leaves out the jelly so it's just peanut butter?"

Nick laughed, shaking his head at him as the CSI dropped the sandwich back into the bag because it was missing one vital ingredient. "You're as bad as my kids. They won't eat peanut butter without the jelly. Greg got them hooked on peanut butter and jelly, but I still can't stand the stuff."

"How can you not like PB & J?" Sara gasped as she handed one of her tuna salad sandwiches over to Warrick so he wouldn't go hungry. "Everyone likes PB & J. It's a crime not to."

"I just don't like it." Nick smiled at her.

"And where's your lunch moustache boy?" Warrick queried after taking a bite of the tuna salad sandwich. "Greg still lacks the wife gene, huh?"

"Yeah, because he's not my wife." Nick laughed, shaking his head at him. "Besides, when would he have time to make me lunch when he works the same shift as me?"

"You're a family man; one of you should at least be assigned the duty of making lunch." Warrick snickered back at him. "When I've got the day off and it's Tina's day to work, I make her lunch."

"What if you're both working?" Sara asked, smiling at him over the top of her sandwich.

"She makes both. She even does my laundry." Warrick winked towards the feminist. "It's like having a personal slave, only she loves me and _wants_ to do it for me." He laughed.

Sara rolled her eyes at him then turned to look at Nick. "And I suppose Greg's mother does your laundry?"

"Nope." He shook his head, setting down the coffee he had just taken a sip of. "Actually, Greg and I take turns with the laundry. We take turns to do the cleanin' and cookin', but Greg hates cleanin' the bathroom, oh and washin' the car. And he's not as organised as me, so I usually fold the laundry and put the DVD's and things away in alphabetical order."

"So you're Greg's wife then Nicky." Warrick smirked as he tapped his friend on the back. "And you thought marryin' a guy who could get pregnant would be a good thing."

"It is a good thing." Nick glared at him. "I get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend, and our kids have a little bit of each of us in them instead of only one of us like normal surrogates."

"You having any more?" Sara asked as she finished off her sandwich, wiping her mayonnaise covered fingers on the napkin in her hands.

Nick shook his head. "I don't think so. We've already got five under six year olds, and it's tough enough to find a babysitter that will take them all as is it. Just my luck that I get him pregnant with twins the first two times, and Greg's worried he'll get pregnant with twins again then we'll end up with seven."

"Big families aren't so bad," Sara commented as she took a bite out of her apple. "Or so I've heard anyway."

"I grew up with four brothers and two sisters, it's not so bad. Besides the hand me downs, bathroom time, and the age differences." Nick added as he thought back to his childhood. "Other than that its cool."

"Let me guess, you're the baby." Catherine smirked as she appeared in the doorway. "You guys finally stopping for lunch? What's it been, two days?"

"Almost three." Warrick smirked, handing her the coffee he had ready and waiting for her for when she finally stopped for lunch. "IA dropping their investigation yet?" He queried.

"More or less." She shrugged, dropping into the empty seat beside Sara. "It still looks bad when a police officer's wife managed to get past security with a gun though."

"Hey Nick." Wendy called from the doorway. "I managed to isolate the blood sample from that sweatshirt. Not the vic's, and it was female. The same sample you found off the cell door." She reported, handing over the report to him. "Sorry I couldn't help more than that."

"That's okay." Nick smiled at her then nodded to her as she left. "Thanks Wendy. Now we just need a sample of Mrs Bartlett's DNA. The blood could be transfer from her knuckles."

"It's in the right place." Sara agreed as she took a look at the picture. "Looks like we've pretty much got the case wrapped up."

"Hey Catherine, can you relate to Mrs Bartlett?" Warrick asked her. "She killed the murderer of her husband, not caring about the consequences or her children. Sara recons she wouldn't kill the murderer of her beloved. I could."

"I don't know." She shrugged. "Right circumstances, I probably would. What about you Nicky, you're the one with the family. What would you do if Greg was the one that was murdered?" Nick leant his elbow on the table then rested his chin in his palm as he thought about it. He loved Greg more than anything in the world, but he didn't know if he could really kill someone for him.

* * *

**There's gonna be two more chapters to this story. They're short chapters, that's how I update so quick. My normal chapters are usually around 5,000 words, so these short ones are quicker to type up and beta :D I've got the basic layout on paper, just need to write it all out on the computer :D Thanks for your reviews on the last chapter. I'm glad you're enjoying this story. Hopefully more of your questions about the kids and how they got them was explained in this chapter.**

**Thanks for reading, don't forget to leave a review!**

**~ Holly**


	4. Chapter 4: Hostage

**Chapter Four: Hostage**

"Stokes!" Detective Vartann called down the hall towards him as he saw the CSI about to head into the locker room. "Hey Nick, we have Mrs Linda Bartlett in custody, and here's your warrant for the DNA." Opening up the file in his hands, Vartann handed over the signed warrant to the CSI. "DA told me to give it to you directly so we can get this case closed already."

"Thanks, Vartann." Nick gave him a grateful smile then grabbed his kit and head off towards the elevator so he could take it down to the police station and finally get Mrs Bartlett's DNA to wrap up the case.

Nick head straight off towards the interrogation room where she was sat, giving her a curious look before he entered the room. "Hi Mrs Bartlett, I'm Nick Stokes from the crime lab. Mrs Bartlett, I'm gonna need a sample of your DNA." Nick set down his case on the table then unfolded the warrant in front of her so she could take a look at it. Mrs Bartlett rolled her eyes at him then lifted the warrant into her hands as she climbed to her feet. Nick watched her placing a hand on her lower back, holding it in pain from her pregnancy. "Mrs Bartlett, I just need to swab the inside of your cheek with this." Nick lifted a fresh Q-tip from his kit, showing it to her, but she took a step back again, keeping her distance from Nick.

"Where's my lawyer? I told the other guy I wasn't going to talk to anyone without my lawyer, and that includes giving you my DNA."

"Ma'am, your lawyer is on route. We have a warrant for your DNA; if you want I can get one of the officers here to hold you down while I take it." Nick held up the Q-tip to her. "I'd prefer to do it this way though."

"Why do you need my DNA though?" She asked. "It's not enough that my husband dies; now you're harassing me."

"Our suspect was killed in custody. There was female DNA on the cell door that was consistent with a graze, the same kind of graze you've got on your knuckle there. And the gun from your house was also used to kill him."

"That blood, it's not mine though." She protested, clearly lying as she looked very anxious.

"That's why I need your DNA." Stepping towards her again, Nick held out the Q-tip ready and waiting. "See, unlike people, DNA doesn't lie. And if your DNA _does_ match the blood we found on the cell door then I'll know you're lyin'."

"Not until my lawyer gets here. I don't know what I'm looking at here." She indicated towards the document in her hands. "If you dare touch me, I'll charge you with assault."

Nick rolled his eyes then looked towards Officer O'Bryan stood guard at the door. "You gonna help me out here?"

"Stokes, she's been through enough." Officer O'Bryan defended her again. "We can wait until her lawyer gets here, she'd have calmed down by then too." He pointed out to him.

"The warrant was issued by the judge; I have the right to collect her DNA." Nick argued.

"I thought you fags are supposed to be sympathetic." He muttered as he rolled his eyes at the CSI.

"Are you kiddin' me?" Nick glared at the officer in annoyance. "You're lettin' a murderer get away with murder just because you've got somethin' against me personally? You're gonna get fired for not doin' your job if you're not careful."

"Are you threatening me, Stokes?" Unfolding his arms from his chest, Officer O'Bryan took a step closer towards the slightly shorter CSI. "You and your little faggot boyfriend need to get your heads together. She's just lost her husband and the father of her children!"

"I suppose you just stood by while _she_ assaulted Greg too?" Nick gave out a heavy groan then widened his eyes as Mrs Bartlett suddenly reached for Officer O'Bryan's holster, removing his gun while they were distracted arguing with one another.

"Don't move!" She threatened, pointing her gun towards Nick.

Nick scoffed, shaking his head towards O'Bryan as he slowly raised his hands either side of his body. "You gonna let her get away with this too? I'm a father of five you know, do I qualify for the get of jail free thing you've got goin' on here?"

"Shut up, Stokes!" O'Bryan rolled his eyes back at him as he raised his hands too. "Linda, just put the gun down." He spoke in a calm tone of voice towards Mrs Bartlett. "Think of your children." The officer who had known her for years tried to reason with her.

"She didn't think of em before, what good would that do?" Nick remarked as he raised his hands a little higher.

"CSI Stokes, do you carry a gun?" Mrs Bartlett looked towards him, watching his right hand slowly moving towards the holster on his belt. "Don't even think about it or those kids of yours won't have a daddy." She warned him.

"One short won't make a difference to em." O'Bryan muttered.

Nick rolled his eyes at him then slowly lifted the gun from his holster, handing it over to Mrs Bartlett. "Think about this Mrs Bartlett, you're in a police station. The halls are full of cops. There's no way out of here, even if you do kill us." Nick tried to reason with her. "The DA can give you a deal considerin' you just lost your husband."

"Shut up!" She hissed at him, backing them both up away from the door at gun point. "Keith, you got a back up weapon there?" She asked, turning her attention towards Officer O'Bryan.

"Yeah, my right leg." He pointed down to his shoe. "Linda, he's got a point. The DA will go easy on you. We can't help you if you do this though."

"I don't need your help." She shrieked as tears pooled down her cheeks. "CSI Stokes, can you remove Officer O'Bryan's back up and throw it over there." She pointed past the interrogation room table.

Nick nodded to her then slowly knelt down to unclip the backup weapon from O'Bryan's leg.

"Don't get any ideas, Stokes." The increasingly homophobic cop warned him.

"Don't flatter yourself." Nick rolled his eyes then tossed the gun across the room as instructed. "I'm married. And you're so not my type."

"Am I not dorky enough to be your bitch?"

"Would you guys shut up!" Linda barked at them. "Seriously, you're like little girls." Placing one hand on her back in agony, Linda heaved a deep breath from her throat, feeling a painful tingle in her stomach. "Sit down, both of you. Sit down!" She ordered, shaking the gun at them to make them do what she said.

"Linda, are you okay?" O'Bryan gave her a curious look as he took a seat on the bench behind him, putting a few inches between him and the CSI he despised. "You don't look so good."

"I think her water just broke." Nick noticed as he saw the water trickling down her leg that looked a lot like amniotic fluid, and he recognised the symptoms she was going through as he had been around Greg when his waters broke for all three pregnancies. "Linda, you really don't wonna do this with a baby on the way." Nick tried to reason with her.

"Stop telling me what I **do** and **don't** want to do!" She shrieked then directed the gun in her hands towards O'Bryan, squeezing off one round into his chest. Nick flinched back from the loud sound then looked up at Linda once his hearing returned. "Now shut up or I'll shoot you too!" She threatened.

"Keith!" Nick quickly moved to help his co-worker on the floor who just slipped off the bench a few seconds after he was shot. Nick nervously looked up towards Mrs Bartlett before he attempted to try and slow the bleeding to the officers wound. Regardless of what he thought of him, he wouldn't just let him die.

"S-Stokes." He choked on the blood pooling into his throat.

"Shh, shh, don't talk." Nick whispered to him then peeled back the officer's shirt to see where the bullet had hit him. "Damn it, Linda, it's gone straight through. He's gonna bleed to death if we don't get him help."

"Well you shoulda thought about that _before_ you started running your mouth!" She shouted at him while she held her side in agony.

"Linda, somebody probably heard the shot. Do you want your kids to be motherless too?" Nick asked her as he grasped his hands together over O'Bryan's gunshot wound.

While Linda was muttering something to herself, Nick looked around the room at the chairs, the discarded guns, his open kit on the table and the fire extinguisher on the wall behind him as he tried to figure out a plan to take her down without harming the baby inside her.

"Stokes, d-don't do anything." O'Bryan croaked from the floor beneath him.

"Yeah, don't do anything Stokes or I'll put a bullet between your eyes." Linda warned him as she leant back against the table behind her.

"Mrs Bartlett, do you really want your baby to be born like this in the room where your husband's best friend bled out?" Nick looked up at her as the blood seeped through his fingers from O'Bryan's wound. "We can get you both off to the hospital. O'Bryan's gonna need emergency surgery, and we can take you straight through to get that baby out safely." Looking towards the door, Nick shook his head slightly as Brass and some other officers were about to burst in. "Linda, just give me the gun and I'll get you both off to the hospital."

"I can't have this baby without him!" She moaned, lowering the gun at her side as she held her stomach from the pain of a contraction.

Nick slowly released his firm grip on Officer O'Bryan then sprang to his feet, going for the gun in her hands. He knew it was a dumb idea, but O'Bryan was going to die and the baby was going to pop any minute now, not to mention the fact that the officers outside would probably shoot her, rather than see another officer dead so he had to do something before it was too late.

Linda struggled with him, managing to squeeze off another round before Nick forcefully tugged the gun from her hands, holding it out of her reach.

"Nicky!" Brass shouted as him and his boys burst into the room. Officer's Metcalf and Spencer tugged Linda away from him while Brass grabbed the gun from Nick's hands, looking at the blood soaking his shirt and hands. "Where are you hit, Nick?"

Nick quickly pat himself down, still in shock from the initial firing of the gun. He gave Brass a shrug then quickly pointed over to Officer O'Bryan lying on the floor. "We need an ambulance for him though. He's lost a lot of blood. And Linda's waters broke, she's goin' into labour."

"On it." Brass pulled his cell from his pocket to quickly call for some paramedics.

Nick leant back against the table edge now that it was all over; letting out a huge sigh when he noticed some blood on his forearm that was coming from him. Lifting his arm away from his black t-shirt, Nick could now see that the bullet had just grazed his forearm. Two inches the other way and they'd be hauling his body off to the morgue.

* * *

Waking up to the sound of a ringing cell phone, Greg fluttered his eyes open then reached for the phone as he adjusted the sleeping baby in his arms. "Hello?" He sleepily answered.

"_Greg, it's Catherine. Nothing to worry about, so _please, please _don't get all panicky on me. But there was a shooting at the police station."_ She calmly tried to explain, making the younger man widen his eyes as he sat up straight, fully awake now.

"Oh my god, who was shot?" Greg immediately panicked, even though she had told him not to. "Was it... is Nicky okay?" Greg asked, swallowing down the large lump in his throat.

"_He's okay Greggy."_ She quickly assured him. "_Nick managed to disarm the suspect wielding the gun, and he saved Officer O'Bryan's life. He's at the hospital now."_

"If he's okay, then whys he at the hospital?" Greg almost shrieked in panic.

"_He's fine Greg, really he is. It's just a scratch. Half a dozen stitches, tops. Nothing serious."_ Catherine assured him as she checked on the tough guy again. "_I just thought I should call you since you're nothing to Nick on paper. Don't panic though, he really is okay."_

"Okay, I'll be there in a minute." Greg snapped his phone shut then carefully climbed off the bed, carrying the slumbering baby off towards the crib in the corner. Greg gently set her down, covering her with a blanket then made his way off down the stairs towards the front room where his mother was fast asleep on the sofa. Gently shaking her awake, Greg then pried the empty wine glass from her hands before he looked into her sleepy eyes. "Mom, I gotta go out."

"Again?" She yawned widely, stretching her arms out. "I thought you're on suspended leave?"

"I am. Nick's... at the hospital. He needs a lift home." Greg covered as she'd never let him hear the end of it if he told her that he was injured. "I'll be back before they wake up." He assured her then pressed a kiss to her cheek before he straightened up and head off towards the front door, constantly worrying about Nick. Even though Catherine had assured him that he was going to be okay, Greg couldn't help but feel that their last shared kiss could have really been the very last kiss.

* * *

**Thank you for all of your reviews! I'm glad you're enjoying this short story, next chapter is the last one. Please Review!**

**~ Holly**


	5. Chapter 5: Hero

**Chapter Five: Hero**

Hurrying through the halls of the busy hospital, Greg pushed his way through the crowd stood around the nurses' station, alerting the nurses' attention behind it with a loud clear of his throat. "I'm a... I'm CS-I G-Gr... S-Sanders." He stammered, unable to get his words out from the fear of losing the man he loved. "Um... wh-where's, Nick Stokes?"

"Um..." Looking down at her records, Nurse Abigail Riley tapped her finger over the room number 301 that didn't go unnoticed by Greg before she shook her head, going to apologise to him as she couldn't give out patient information to just anyone. "I'm sorry sir, who are...?" As she glanced back up again, the young man had disappeared from her line of sight.

Standing up straight, Abigail frowned as she looked around for him, but there was no sign of him anywhere.

"Excuse me," Another man appeared in front of her wearing a very smart suit, holding a briefcase in his hand. "I'm looking for Linda Bartlett."

"Sorry sir, I can't give out patient's information." Nurse Abigail shook her head again.

"I'm Nathanial Prescott, her lawyer." Nathanial handed the young woman over his business card. "I need to speak with my client, Linda."

Abigail referred to her records in front of her then shook her head to him. "Sorry sir, Mrs Bartlett is in delivery. You'll have to wait." She insisted then turned to the woman trying to get her attention the other side of her desk. "Yes ma'am, how can I help?"

Catherine rolled her eyes at the ma'am comment yet again. _I can't possibly look that old._ She complained to herself. "I'm Catherine Willows from the crime lab; I just wanted to check on a patient... Keith O'Bryan." She asked as she flashed her ID to her.

"Ah yes, he's still in surgery. You'll have to wait for the doctor to tell you how he's doing." Abigail gave her a half smile then grabbed the phone off her desk. "Desert Palms, how can I help?"

"Excuse me, Catherine Willows," Nathanial cleared his throat as he made his way over to her, pulling out another one of his business cards to hand over to her. "I'm Nathanial Prescott, Linda Bartlett's lawyer. I'm just giving you fair warning that the treatment of Mrs Bartlett didn't go unnoticed and she will be filing a..."

Catherine rolled her eyes, handing him back the card. "Look mister, I've got nothing to do with this case, I'm just checking on my people. Last I checked, Linda Bartlett was the one who shot two cops and killed a suspect." Catherine remarked before she turned on her heels and head off down the hall to where Grissom and Vartann were stood. "He's still in surgery. Linda's lawyer is sniffing around too." Catherine pointed him out by the nurses' station.

"Wow, he's smart."

Catherine raised her eyebrows as she looked towards her supervisor. "He's gonna give us hell over this little incident, Gil. What are we gonna do?"

"We didn't do anything wrong." Grissom pointed out to her. "Linda shot two police officers in a police station; no jury would ever look past that." He assured her.

* * *

Greg hurried off down the hall towards room 301, taking a moment to look around at all the deputies stood in the hallway before he pushed open the door and stepped inside. Nick was sat on the bed with no t-shirt on and his arm raised with a doctor stood beside his bed, inspecting the wound.

Greg took another step into the room, immediately casting his eyes across the room to the t-shirt Nick was wearing that was now covered in blood. Greg felt his heart slowing down inside of his chest as he saw the amount of blood, immediately fearing the worst.

"There we go, that should hold. Need something for the pain?" The doctor asked as he finished up with the stitching on Nick's arm.

Nick shook his head to him, still not noticing the younger mans presence in the room.

"Okay." Snapping his gloves off, the doctor dumped them into the trash can then grabbed his clipboard off the bed from beside Nick. "Try to rest it; anything too strenuous could end up tearing the wound open even more." He warned him. "I'll get a nurse to come bandage that up for you then you can go."

"Thanks, doc."

The doctor smiled at him then stepped around the curtain, turning for the door where he noticed the younger man in the doorway. "You must be Greg," He naturally assumed after talking with his patient about his family while stitching him up. "You can go see him now."

Greg gave the doctor a half smile then stepped around the curtain to look at Nick. "Excuse me superman, can I get your autograph?" Nick immediately glanced up at Greg, giving him a surprised look. "You're killing me here Nicky, is one tragedy a year not enough for you?"

"Baby, I'm sorry." He immediately rushed to apologise as he saw the signs of slight tears in his partner's eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Am I okay? I wasn't the one who was shot."

"It's barely a scratch." Nick showed him the wound on his forearm that was now red and enflamed around the torn area. "Seriously, I can barely feel it, hun."

Greg rolled his eyes then took a step closer, looking at the wound on Nick's arm in more detail. "You know technically, superman isn't supposed to get hurt." Reaching his hand out to touch Nick's cheek, Greg rolled his eyes again as he looked into Nick's. "If I didn't love you so damn much, I'd kill you for putting me through this Nicky. Enough of the damn heroics and the kidnappings already." He warned him. "It's just not funny, or cute anymore."

Nick's lips spread into a slight smile as he looked into his lovers eyes. "I promise I won't do it again." Taking hold of Greg's hand with his good arm, Nick whispered, "Now kiss me, I missed you."

Greg smiled softly then leant closer; gently touching his lips to Nick's to reignite their love. Greg moved his other hand to Nick's back, soothing his hand in gentle circles as he felt his partner's body quivering in fear. Greg said nothing to him though as he knew how much Nick always liked to play the tough guy, hiding his fears beneath the surface, even from Greg.

Despite the injury to his arm, Nick pulled Greg closer against him, holding his body tightly as if it was his lifeline as he pulled back from the kiss. Greg gently brushed his fingers through his partner's hair, returning the embrace to his shaking lover as he desperately needed him right now.

"Baby, are you okay?" Greg whispered into his hair, feeling Nick's breathing hitching against him.

"No." He bravely admitted, burying his face into Greg's warm neck. "I had this terrible thought that someone was gonna have to go and find you and tell you that I was killed in a hostage situation. I've been there before to tell people about their dead husbands, wives or kids. I couldn't bare you goin' through that."

"You're alive Nicky." The younger man whispered as he gently soothed the hero with a heart in his arms.

"Two inches to the right and I wouldn't be." Nick pointed out to him. "She coulda chosen to shoot me first instead of O'Bryan, and I highly doubt he'd stand over me to stop the bleedin'. That guy hates me." Nick sniffled against him then pulled back to look him in the eye. "Why do you always make me cry?" He smirked as he wiped away his tears. "Somethin' about you just makes me go all weepy."

"Coz yah love me." Greg grinned widely at him then brushed away the few remaining tears with his own fingertips. "You let your guard down around me because you can trust me."

"I do love you." Nick nodded in agreement. "More than anythin' in the world. I never woulda believed we'd end up here after that one night stand five years ago, but I'm glad we did." Nick inhaled a cleansing deep breath then tugged Greg closer to press another kiss to his lips.

"I told you that you loved me, didn't I?" Greg smiled as he gently cupped his warm cheeks in his hands. "I hated those few weeks that we were apart, I couldn't believe we were really considering joint custody for the twins."

"That seems like different people now." Holding both of Greg's hands tightly in his own, Nick gazed up into his partners eyes, feeling his love just by looking into those chocolate brown beauties. "I love you Greg, and the moustache goes tomorrow; seriously I'm sick of it."

"Yesss." Greg cheekily cheered then gently brushed his finger across the short strands of hair on Nick's upper lip. "I'm sure gonna miss the little guy, but you look so much hotter without it. Not to mention the fact it makes you look older, not in a bad way though babe." He quickly assured him. "I just mean that you look older than me."

"I am older than you."

"Not by much." He grinned, tilting his head to the side. "The moustache makes you look more mature, like a guy who would sit around the house reading newspapers with a pipe in his mouth."

"Oh. Why didn't you say somethin' before?" He smirked.

Greg snickered softly then pressed a moist kiss to Nick's lips. "Because I love you, and I'm supposed to love you, despite your flaws. Don't get me wrong, I love the moustache, but you look so much hotter without it."

"See, every marriage deserves a little constructive criticism." Nick once again captured his lover's lips; glad that their last kiss in the lab, really wasn't the last kiss they would ever share. He pulled back as one of the nurses entered to bandage his arm, but he didn't let go of Greg's hand the whole time she was in there as he was his rock to assure him that he was safe.

* * *

Hustling off towards the waiting room, Sara sighed in relief as she saw everyone was there. "Hey guys, is everyone okay?"

Catherine nodded as she shifted over one seat so that Sara could sit down beside her. "Nicky's being stitched up. Linda's in delivery and Officer O'Bryan is just coming out of surgery. They managed to retrieve the bullet and stop the bleeding." She reported, holding the stale cup of coffee in her hands.

"Oh, did anyone call Greg?" She asked next.

Grissom nodded as he pointed towards Catherine. "Catherine called him earlier. He's in with Nick now." Checking the time on his watch against the clock on the wall behind him, Grissom gave out a yawn of exhaustion as he climbed to his feet. "It'll be nice to finally get this case wrapped up."

"Yeah, what's going on with that now?" Catherine queried.

"Well, it's pretty much done. We've got our suspect, she copped to the murder of Loui Charlton, it's up to the DA whether to charge her or not. Linda's lawyer has been sniffing around for the past hour about the ill treatment of his client; we'll just have to see where they take it from there." He shrugged as he turned to lean back against the opposite wall. "Nick swears that he got shot by his own fault, and if O'Bryan doesn't make it..."

"Then his murders on her." Sara finished his sentence for him.

"They can't seriously be thinking of letting her go after everything she's done. Pregnant or not, she's guilty." Climbing to her feet, Catherine dumped her coffee into the trash then checked her watch. "Damn, I've gotta get Lindsay off to school in twenty minutes."

"Go, I'll stay here." Grissom insisted, ushering her away. "You're off shift anyway; I'm already in enough trouble with Ecklie after giving you lot too much overtime."

Catherine snickered softly then gently tapped him on the arm. "Thanks boss, I owe you one. Later Sara." She waved over her shoulder then made her way off through the busy halls of Desert Palms hospital.

"Bye." Sara waved after her then smiled as she looked up at Grissom. "So, does that mean the rest of us get to go home too? We have been working round the clock since Thursday." She pointed out to him as she was completely exhausted herself. "And it's now Saturday."

"Yeah, yeah alright. Don't bother coming in until Monday either."

"Thank you." Sara grinned widely then sprang to her feet. "Give Nick my best. I'll see him later, I'm sure he's feeling crowded enough." She waved then head off down the other end of the hall as her car was parked out front. "Hey Warrick."

"Hey." Warrick smiled as he passed by her in the hall then head off towards where Grissom was stood. "Hey boss, Nicky okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine." Grissom nodded then glanced at his watch, "Warrick, what are you still doing here? I told you to go home once you filed away your evidence."

"Nick was covered in blood when I last saw him; I had to check on him before I went home." Warrick pointed out to him then stuffed his hands into his pockets as he looked around at the doctors and nurses walking around him. "So, what rooms he in?"

"Eh... 301." He pointed down the hall behind him. "He's okay though Warrick, most of that blood wasn't his."

"Okay." Warrick nodded, but he had to see it for himself so he head off down the hall, spotting Nick sat on the bed while the nurse bandaged up his arm and his loving partner Greg held his other hand. Warrick smiled to himself then gave out a sigh of relief. Even though everyone had assured him that he was perfectly fine from the moment he saw his shirt covered in blood, Warrick didn't believe it himself until he saw him with his own eyes.

"Go on Warrick, go home." Grissom insisted, gently tapping him on the shoulder. "I'll see you Monday."

"Yeah... okay." Warrick gave out a soft smile then smiled round at his supervisor. "Thanks boss."

Grissom nodded to him then watched him walking off down the hall before he turned for Nick's room, deciding to send them both home as they had been working round the clock too. "Hey." He spoke softly as he poked his head through the doorway once the nurse was done bandaging up Nick's arm. "You okay Nicky?"

"Yeah, it's just a scratch." Nick nodded to him. "How about O'Bryan, how's he doin'?" He queried.

"He's fine, thanks to you. They're just bringing him out of surgery now, but going in, he told me to make sure I said thanks to you and that he's sorry he ever judged you. Apparently you'd know what that meant. But good work Nicky." Grissom gave him a wink as he inspected Nick's arm for himself before he continued, "We got Linda Bartlett's DNA. It's a positive match to the blood from the cell door, and she confessed. We've finally got our murderer."

"Did she have her baby?" Nick immediately asked before his supervisor turned to leave.

"Yeah, little boy. Eight pound six ounces. Officer Bartlett's sister Karen is taking the kids in. Her and her husband have two kids of their own, but they don't mind taking the others. Oh and the DA is cutting Linda some slack thanks to you Nicky. Take some time off guys; just call me to let me know how long you need."

Nick gave him a nod then watched him turn for the door and walk away.

Greg smiled proudly towards his husband, wondering why he always had to be a hero to everyone around him. Officer O'Bryan hated him, but still he save his life. Linda Bartlett almost killed him, but still his big heart reached out to help her too.

"I'm proud of you Nicky." He suddenly announced. Nick turned his head towards Greg, looking at him surprised. "I'm serious baby, I'm really proud of you. You really are one of a kind, Nicholas Stokes."

"Even though I almost got myself killed?"

Greg nodded his head then leant forwards to press his lips to his husband's temple. "You're unbelievably brave Nicky, and I love you more than anything in the world."

"Aw, you goin' all sentimental on me, G?" He smiled up at him then reached out for his hand to brush his thumb across the ring that they had exchanged during their ceremony four years ago. "I don't know what I'd do without you Greg." He spoke softly then looked up into his eyes.

"Let's not find out." Greg whispered. "How badly does it hurt?"

Nick shrugged to him, avoiding a real answer as he was trying to forget about it. "So you don't think I'm stupid for tryin' to save O'Bryan or Linda?"

Greg shook his head. "That's just you and your big heart. I've learned to accept that about you, I just hope it doesn't get you killed." He spoke softly as he gently brushed his fingers through Nick's hair. "I don't know what I'd do without you Nicky."

"Hey, we were all talkin' earlier, you know about Mrs Bartlett, and what she did to her husband's killer. Catherine and Warrick recon that if they were in her shoes, they'd do the exact same thing, regardless of the consequences, but Sara didn't think she could kill a person, even if she loved her husband more than anythin'."

"Well, if I was called tonight and told that you were dead, I'd kill the person that did it."

"You would?" Nick raised his eyebrows slightly. "She's a pregnant mother though G." He pointed out to him, unable to believe the kind and gentle Greg he knew could actually kill an expecting mother to defend the honour of his husband's life.

"If anyone took you from me, it wouldn't matter who they were." Greg assured him. "I love you Nicky, you're my world. Right circumstances, I could be driven to kill for you, or any one of our babies as a matter of fact."

"Oh." Nick nodded to him then looked towards the door as the doctor came back in to check him over.

After Nick was finally discharged from the hospital, Greg loaded him into the car and drove him off towards his mother's house to collect their children that they felt as though they hadn't seen awake in days.

As soon as the car pulled up in the driveway, the boys ran to greet their two fathers like the arrival of Father Christmas himself. They ran in excitement towards Greg first as he was closer, waiting for him to pay attention to each of them before they ran round the car towards their father Nick, clinging to his legs and arms like the little monkeys they were.

Greg lifted his excitable little girl Aidan into his arms as she finally released her grandfather's hand and made her way over him. "Mind your arm Nicky." Greg immediately warned his husband before he locked up the car.

"Yes dear." Nick grinned over at him then ushered the three boys off into the house to get their things so he could lift his little girl Aidan from his partner's arms. "Did you miss daddy?" Nick smiled at her as he held her tightly in his embrace.

"Where's mom?" Greg asked his father.

"Just gone out. I'm heading into work in an hour, but I can stay if you need me."

"Nope, we're good. Thanks dad." Greg assured him then gave him a quick hug before he head off into the house, finding the abandoned little one in her play pen in the front room. Avery excitedly kicked her arms and legs about at the sight of her father, giving out a soft gurgle as he lifted her up into his arms, pressing butterfly kisses to her forehead.

While Nick showed off his battle wound to his father in law, Greg collected up the children's over night things and hurried them off towards the car to get them strapped in. He was relieved to finally be going home, but he knew he wouldn't be able to rest as the children were all wide awake, and wired to hyper mode. He didn't mind too much, at least he would finally have all of his family safe and sound under one roof again. He only prayed that it would be that easy everyday as he looked towards his husband who was proudly showing off his battle wound that could have cost him his life.

**The End**

* * *

**There it is, I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for all of your reviews, subscribing and favouriting :D I told you it was just a short one, so I hope you're not too disappointed with the ending. You never know, I might be able to think up another short story with these characters in the future.**

**Please Review and let me know what you thought!**

**~ Holly**


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